Human Acts & The Vegetarian | REVIEWS

Booktubers mentioned:

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Books mentioned:

HUMAN ACTS by Han Kang (trans. by Deborah Smith)

THE VEGETARIAN by Han Kang (trans. by Deborah Smith)

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[KoreaVJ]

Wow, your review for these two books are so excellent!! Congrats to the writer Han Kang for Nobel Prize !!

[moonymoon]

Hi
당신은 human acts의 한강작가가 노벨상을 수상할거라 예언했다
그리고 결국 어제 실현 됐다
대단한 식견이다
Thank you so much

[szvqorwnpstahskypfwmp]

Han Kang won The Nobel Prize in Literature
based on those two books. Congratulations!

[MrNa]

I am Korean. Thank you for your kind reviewing of "Human Acts and The Vegetarian" by Han Kang.

[tinas]

Hi Claire! You review books very well! Also found your channel because of your review of Han Kang! New subscriber here! I picked up The Vegetarian after I saw your review. It is a very weird book but I really like it. It made me think and I love that it was only less than 200 pages. It’s concise and yet good. Strange but good. Thanks again for sharing your love of reading and reviews!

[TeaHags]

What an amazing breakdown. I haven't heard great things about The Vegetarian, but this is the first time I've gotten a clear picture why. Human Rights sounds wonderful, and I'll be sure to keep it on my radar.
- - Rebecca

[mc]

Claire, you're visionary. After 6 years..
2024" HAN KANG", received it Noble prize.

[speakupyt]

''Han Kang'' Becomes the First Asian Woman to Win the Nobel Prize for Literature !~~🔥🔥🔥

[LiteraryGladiators]

Great reviews! I own The Vegetarian, but have yet to pick up Human Acts. I was waiting for it to come into paperback, which I can see it has. I was not sure which one I would like more, but it definitely sounds like Human Acts is far more intriguing than The Vegetarian. I like absurdism and works that are outside of the box, but I am not too fond of books that develop a sense of frustration in how they miss the mark. It reminds me a lot of The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow, where the story is told from Augie's point of view, but he seldom ever talks about himself or his background. I think I will find myself reading both books and I really hope that Han Kang continues to write and release more content for us to read (preferably good)! -Josh

[thuntz]

I’m not one for reading an entire bibliography of an author. But she trapped me with Human Acts, even the title and the complete devastation that happens to these families in the novel is so powerful, it was like a black hole, pulling and pulling me in. I read the Vegetarian and wasn’t that impressed either, but I definitely want to pick up her third book.

[SaraiTalksBooks]

I appreciate your book reviews so much Claire, I'm always so inspired by how you can share your reading experiences in such a thoughtful, critical way while at the same time being so laid back, I feel like I'm talking about books with a friend who is super smart lol. I'll definitely be watching your past videos and taking notes for my future book reviews, I hope to be half as insightful as you. I read The Vegetarian earlier this year and I wasn't a fan, I gave it two stars. I thought it was disjointed, unclear, and I felt after reading all of the different POVs I still didn't see the point of the book, or of structuring the book the way Kang did. The ending was a mess, there was no resolution or real finality to anything. I hated it lol

[kueri]

wow you have good eyes to predic what book is going to be prized . psychy

[Cardenio]

I absolutely loved The Human Acts but wasn’t a big fan of The Vegetarian. You expressed your thoughts eloquently and that’s how I felt about those two books. Debora Smith did a fantastic job translating while keeping the original tones of the novels alive (I read both books in both Korean and English). I loved how you pronounced Han Kang, Gwangjoo, and the characters’ names correctly!

[ipshitajee]

So I only want to buy one book for this month but couldn't comprehend which one of her will be the best to read, please respose someone :)

[rapaciousreads]

How do you think the narrative structure of The Vegetarian compare's with De Maurier's Rebecca? Generally, I like books where the main focus is obscured.

[splitreads]

Ooh super interesting to hear your Vegetarian thoughts. I told you most people like Human Acts better! I think The Vegetarian worked for me better because I liked the heavy-handed stuff maybe? There were wild thriller-esque parts (the second part for example) that had me both grossed out and totally engaged. And thankfully I read it with two smart girls who explained even further the allegory. I thought it was creative and unique.
Are you thinking of reading her next book The White Book?? I think it's come out in the UK already.

[alldbooks]

Human Acts was amazing. The chapter told from the perspective of the boy’s spirit was simply brilliant. I didn’t get along with The Vegetarian. While I could appreciate its literary merit, the story didn’t connect with me. The last section was good. The middle section was off putting. I tend to not like stories in which sex is used to drive the plot. I got it from a literary standpoint, but it still didn’t really work for me.

[Dylan-zmht]

The first part of The Vegetarian was good, the second was okay but really creepy and and the third part just was weird to me and I speed read it to get it over with.

[literaryprints]

I’ve been on the fence about which Han Kang book to pick up for my first step into Korean lit so hearing your in-depth thoughts about the both of them has definitely been helpful. Will be picking up Human Acts next year, for sure!!

Great, great review!!

[tortoisedreams]

Another amazing review! I want to read both. I liked you bringing in both books to get a better sense of Kang & her themes. Your analysis is so rich I now have a better sense of how to approach these -- love how much you got from both books. Your review highlights something I've thought about: the difficulty we (in the west) *all* have in reading non-western literature. This is not (really not!) a criticism of your review (honest), but as westerners we have an osmotic (wow -- that's a word?) knowledge of English-language lit, history & culture. Not so much of other cultures. I've seen criticism of Japanese writers by reviewers imposing western standards & culture on their books. In a sense that's okay (I guess), as they're really saying "as a westerner I didn't like this because it doesn't conform to my world view." "It's not for me" is a legit comment. We can only read as best we can. But there's also some arrogance (if we're trying to move to a post-colonial world) in my passing judgment of another culture's writing based on my own culture, despite my ignorance of their history & culture, their literary traditions. Example: I thought Adichie's We Should All be Feminists was simplistic or obvious, but maybe her target audience needed that approach, maybe not all countries have as long a history of women's rights, maybe some other countries have farther to go, have (sadly) even more repressive cultures. Just some dumb thoughts about a complicated subject. Sorry to go on so long, just (as usual) you make me think (a lot).